Cleo arrived into our lives in April 2015 and we knew from the outset that things would never be quite the same again! 

What we didn't foresee was a heart murmur which was discovered at her 6 week check-up with the GP.  Further investigation revealed a significant Atrial Sepal Defect which is a hole between the two upper chambers of her heart. 

Nearly 4 years later it transpired that a 'keyhole' procedure wouldn't be the answer as a 22mm hole in such a small heart was just too big to fix non-invasively. On the 13th of February 2019 Cleo underwent open heart surgery to close the hole. Thankfully this procedure was successful and her recovery to date has been swift and straight forward.

Jake wanted to do something to help following his sister's surgery and has decided he wants to run a Marathon (or 26.2 miles) over the 31 days of March. He will be doing this with the support of his friends and the brilliant staff at Yattendon Primary School Monday-Friday and we will be running/hobbling with him at the weekends. If any of you want to join him for a mile or two just let me know and we can make a plan.

Cleo's procedure was relatively simple but that is thanks to amazing developments in cardiac medicine which are all helped by the BHF's funding and research. 20 years ago her recovery would have been much slower and the associated risks far greater. The BHF has helped halve the number of people dying from heart and circulatory disease in the UK but there is still more to be done. It's only thanks to support from people like us that the BHF can create new treatments and discover new cures. £24 could pay for two hours of research by an early career scientist, but every pound helps so please give what you can to help Jake hit his target.

If you can spare a penny, or a pound or 4 minutes (!) to run a mile alongside Jakey we would be very grateful.

With love from us all,

Jake, Cleo, Jo and Ben xxx